Friendly Fires are back for a third time this year. They are confirmed a show at the Phoenix on December 2nd, my latest obession The XX open. Tickets, $16.50, are on sale now.
Basement Jaxx are heading out on a brief North American DJ tour which stops at Century Room on November 3rd.
Born Ruffians play Opera House September 19th. Tickets, $15.00, on sale now at Rotate and here.
The same night Chad VanGaalen has a show at Church of the Redeemer. Tickets are $20.00 and on sale now at Rotate.
Amy Millan plays Mod Club on October 14th. Tickets available now. The same night, The Gossip play the Opera House. Tickets are a wopping $24.50 and are on sale at the usual outlets.
Cuff The Duke do a two night stand at the Horseshoe on October 16th and 17th.
Dan Deacon is at the Great Hall on November 4th. His live shows are amazing, saw him a couple years ago open for Girl Talk. Check this one out, its super affordable ($10).
The XX are a London quartet that look like they fell out of the early 80s British dark romantic gothic scene led by Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure and Bauhaus. Don’t hold this against them, they aren’t the typical watered down Joy Division NME-praised next big thing. They have their own unique sound, heart-breaking hushed boy/girl vocals layered over ambient Slowdive (Pygmalion-era) guitars and low-end electronics. They still manage create accessible pop music, down-tempo in speed, but catchy after a couple of listens.
The band has signed to Rough Trade in the UK, and are just about to release their debut self-titled disc on August 17th. Check out the video for first single Crystalised below.
The band are playing a handful of shows in NYC this month but have no announced plans for a full North American tour (they are just playing their first headlining shows in London this month).
Peaches has released yet another single for I Feel Cream. This time it’s Serpentine, one of my favourite tracks off the album. Has a VCR-recorded feel, like when we were young and watched The Wedge on Much Music and recorded our favourite music videos. An instant classic.
M83 hosted a fan video contest via their website for their song We Own The Sky. This is the winning entry. It’s completely perfect, it makes me long to be a teenager again, kinda in the same way Smashing Pumpkins video for 1979 did. I heart M83.
A close friend recently discovered Fever Ray. I’ve had the album floating around for the last 5 months but never really got into it. I love it. Almost as much as I love her main band The Knife. It’s probably my favourite album of the year this far. Watch their video for When I Grow Out taken from her debut below. It’s freakin’ amazing.
Fever Ray play Kool Haus on Friday October 2nd. Tickets are a bit pricey ($34) and are on sale now. I’m pretty sure I’ll be attending.
